Palestinian boy aged 14 shot dead by Israeli forces
Middle East EyeJan 16, 2023
Palestinian medics reported on Monday that a 14-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in the Dheisha refugee camp, near Bethlehem in the West Bank, as soldiers faced off with stone-throwers, according to witnesses.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the teenager as Omar Khumour, saying that he had been shot in the head. Crowds of Palestinians gathered outside the hospital in which he died, chanting slogans against Israel.
As Israel expands its near-daily raids into the West Bank, more and more Palestinians are dying. Omar Khumour was just a boy, but even that did not save him from being murdered in cold blood by Israel's war machine. Last year was the most deadly twelve months for Palestinians since the Second Intifada, in which Israel brutally cracked down on Palestinian resistance to occupation. The international community cannot allow Israel to continue carrying out these crimes.
Though it is tragic when innocent bystanders, particularly children, are killed, the fault for such losses ultimately falls on Palestinian militancy and terrorism, which has survived through its use of the civilian population as a shield. Most of those killed in the last year have been terrorists and had to be neutralized so Israeli forces could keep civilians safe. Indeed, the only reason raids in the West Bank have expanded over the last year is due to Palestinian terrorism in Israel.